Mayor Mike’s Mindless Mouthpiece

I live for stories like this:

A letter Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki sent to the Delaware General Assembly requesting $1.7 million to demolish the Rodney Reservoir has sparked community debate over what the Cool Springs neighborhood park’s future use should be.

Purzycki in late April outlined six different projects the city is hoping the state will provide funds to pursue, including money to demolish the water holding tanks at Rodney Street Park.

More than 50 people attended a recent rally organized by resident Kevin Melloy in response to the letter, which labeled the water holding tanks – which have been empty for 25 years – “structurally unsound” and a “safety hazard.” In the letter, Purzycki wrote that the city’s vision was to develop the nearly 4-acre site into housing.

The rally outside the Rodney Reservoir was interrupted when a member of Purzycki’s office stopped Melloy, one of the rally’s organizers, in the middle of his speech, calling Melloy a “liar” and his claims “entirely incorrect.”

Tom Ogden, a deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office, said he was representing the mayor and interrupted Melloy’s speech urging people to “save the largest community garden in Wilmington.”

Ogden said a 2014 report found that the reservoir could “potentially collapse,” from one side, but provided no further details. When pressed for details on why the reservoir is dangerous and should be demolished, Ogden said, “I don’t know.”

“Basically what I am sharing with you is what the mayor asked me to share with you,” Ogden said. “Nothing has been decided yet, the money has not been funded yet, and the project has been on the city’s books even before Mayor Purzycki took office.” 

So. This guy doesn’t know anything except that the rally leaders are ‘liars’.  Which is what, and only what, the mayor authorized him to say.   Oh, and the project has been on the books for some time.  Yet, I must point out, has never been acted upon.  Except, THIS YEAR, THIS Mayor has asked for the money.  Not Jim Baker.  Mike Purzycki.  More than a little arrogant of him to instruct his flunky to head on out to call residents liars.

It will have been eight years of Purzycki/Buccini-Pollin running Wilmington come 2024.  Just like it was eight years of Ed Rendell/Comcast running Philly.

That’s more than enough time.  Wilmington needs a new mayor in 2024.  One who doesn’t owe his office to a cadre of developers.